Former president of the Kyrgyz Republic Almazbek Atambayev has hit out at the country’s current president, Sadyr Japarov, over critical power shortages that are plaguing citizens in the run-up to winter.

On his Facebook page, Atambayev – who served as president from late 2011 to late 2017 but is presently in exile having been convicted in absentia by a Kyrgyz court of crimes including illegal enrichment – attacked remarks on the energy sector made by Japarov.

Atambayev asserted that during his rule, the country even did away with the need for electricity imports, achieving power independence.

He wrote: "The president's statement, unfortunately, as usual, contained a lot of lies about the time I was president. Therefore, I decided to clarify the situation.

“Let me remind you of the state of the country when I became president in 2011. The country's energy system was in a state of collapse. Such a collapse of the energy system was the cause of the April Revolution of 2010.

“The lights were turned off from time to time during the day, and in winter there were times when entire regions and cities were left without electricity. I remember flying from Moscow at night, and the stark Bishkek, after the sparkling Russian and Kazakh cities, made my heart ache.

“When I left office in 2017, our team of energy specialists was confident that we had finally solved the country's energy problems. I was proud that in 2017 we no longer depended on the volume of water in the Toktogul reservoir [that provides water to Kyrgyzstan’s largest hydroelectricity power plant]. In 2017-2018, we became completely independent and completely stopped importing electricity. I proudly called it Kyrgyzstan's energy independence.”

Atambayev added that "the current situation is surprising to me now. How did it get stuck in the situation of the spring of 2010?"

He said the phrase "nothing was done", uttered by Japarov as regards work on the energy industry during Atambayev’s time as president, “is not only an insult to Almazbek Atambayev, it is an insult to the work of thousands of people who pulled the country out of the collapse of the 90s. It is an insult to the group that successfully pulled the country out of the energy crisis.”

Prior to Atambayev’s remarks, Japarov addressed the Kyrgyz people, saying that the electricity crisis would be temporary and that from 2027, the sector will "start to make a profit for the first time in our history. This is a great achievement for our statehood and independence”.

Kyrgyzstan, which has embarked on major hydroelectricity plant building programmes, will hold parliamentary elections at the end of this month, and Japarov warned: "There are malicious groups that are making these problems [with electricity] seem like a mountain, inciting people, and hoping that ‘something will happen in the elections’.

“What kind of groups are they? Among them are those who were involved in major corruption cases, were arrested on the basis of opened criminal cases, transferred large amounts of stolen funds or objects of the state budget, and after we came to power, we dismantled shady schemes, diverted the funds that were going into their pockets to the state treasury... In other words, we can say that those who are offended for personal gain, those who have hidden their resentment. A coup will not be allowed. From now on, you will only see a coup in your dreams."